A 2011 Princeton University Industrial Relations Section Noteworthy Book in Industrial Relations and Labor Economics

In the thirty years since the opening of China's economy, China's economic growth has been nothing short of phenomenal. At the same time, however, its employment relations system has undergone a gradual but fundamental transformation from stable and permanent employment with good benefits (often called the iron rice bowl), to a system characterized by highly precarious employment with no benefits for about 40 percent of the population. Similar transitions have occurred in other countries, such as Korea, although perhaps not at such a rapid pace as in China. This shift echoes the move from "breadwinning" careers to contingent employment in the postindustrial United States.

In From Iron Rice Bowl to Informalization, an interdisciplinary group of authors examines the nature, causes, and consequences of informal employment in China at a time of major changes in Chinese society. This book provides a guide to the evolving dynamics among workers, unions, NGOs, employers, and the state as they deal with the new landscape of insecure employment.

"Kuruvilla et al. chart the journey from employment security—known as the 'iron rice bowl' in colloquial Chinese—to informalization in 10 chapters. This sad tale is standard fare in the global labour studies literature, but the underlying arguments in this book are more nuanced and at times controversial. . . . This book . . . [is a] valuable addition to the Chinese labour relations canon. Kuruvilla et. al. point the way to further research opportunities. . . ."—Tim Pringle, British Journal of Industrial Relations (March 2013)

Experts

"This timely volume offers the best empirical analysis of the changing landscape of employment relations in China. It sheds light on the 'hidden abode' of the country's low-cost production: the existence of an ever-growing informal economy that has become a new site of struggle by the workers, activists, employers, and the local and central state actors. The book should appeal to students of China as well as labor scholars in this era of globalization."—Lei Guang, San Diego State University

"From Iron Rice Bowl to Informalization will find an eager readership among scholars and students interested in Chinese politics broadly, in comparative labor relations, and, of course, in China's labor politics and political economy. The international labor policy community (including China's) will find it of high interest, and corporate managers too would do well to take it very seriously."—Marc Blecher, Oberlin College